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Normal routine EEG's and MRI. What is the next step?
Sun, 05/03/2015 - 23:05Hi everybody!
I am new here. Our son started having seizures at 5 days old. He had an abnormal EEG and was put on medication until he was 6 months old after a normal EEG. At 8 months he started having muscle spasms and jerking of his arm and head. I was told it was benign because he had a normal EEG. One month later he had an episode of what I believe was a true seizure. Luckily we were at his pediatricians office and she admitted him to the hospital. The neurologist started him on Keppra and ordered another EEG. Of course it came back normal. A week after starting the medication he woke in the middle of the night screaming hysterically followed by 90 seconds of rhythmic head turning. It concerned me because his pupils were dilated but the lights were completely on. So we are about to have a follow up with the neuro this week. I feel like putting him on medication without solid proof of a seizure is a bad idea. But I also feel like not treating them is a bad idea too. Either way, I feel like I am doing the wrong thing. I know there has to be something going on with him. He is 10 months old and his movements are still spastic like a younger baby. He gags on food because he doesn't know or can't chew or mash his food. He also doesn't babble. Only screams or whines or makes cooing noises. He is currently enrolled in speech therapy to work on the feeding and vocalizing. So I know if an expert agrees with me I can't be imagining this stuff right? What is typically the next step in diagnosing and treating seizures if the routine EEG's keep coming back clean? The MRI was normal too. Thanks in advance!
Nicole
Thanks for the responses. I
Submitted by kerausmommy on Tue, 2015-05-05 - 09:34
Thanks for the responses. I will certainly ask about getting a longer EEG. I would really like to see an EEG done at night because I strongly suspect he is having some type of seizure activity. He has never slept through the night at 10 months old. He wakes frequently and we have never been able to establish why. The only time he has not done this was the night after he started Keppra and a week later after it was increased. Unless it was a weird coincidence, I can't understand why he would not have any disturbances those nights. Since I posted this the other day he had another questionable episode. He woke up from a nap hysterical. He wanted to be picked up but didn't want me to touch him. I laid him on the floor in his bed room and he cried and rolled around on the floor. He would stop sometimes and get really quiet and still. I waited for something to happen because he last two times this happened he had what I believe to be a seizure. It would start with inconsolable crying and agitation. If I try to hold him he basically does the 'alligator roll" in my arms. At first I thought he was having a food reaction because of his behavior and the fact that he would become flushed in the face. It's awful not having a solution or answers.